Green Card & Associate Degree

suzanne4, RN · Apr 7, 2004

There will definitely be needs for nurses in 2008 and well beyond............

As soon as you have your license you can begin working, provided that you have a legal permit to work..............No long wait or anything.....

:balloons:

Keaneanopathayaka · May 25, 2004

Does anyone know whether getting a A.A.S degree in Nurse is hard or not. I want to get this degree, but I'm afraid that I can't do it. Anyway, I want to know how RN nurse get a green card.

If anyone can answer my question, I would appreciate it!

Thank you

K. N

suzanne4, RN · May 28, 2004

You need to give a little more info than you did. Are you currently living in the US or overseas. If you are just going to begin training in your country, you should go for the BSN or equivalent.

If you are just going to go to nursing school because you want a green card, I would think again. You need to have training as a professional nurse, which usually means 4 years in another country, especially if you are just starting.

Coko · May 28, 2004

My husband and I host a lady from Japan who used be RN in Japan, and now she wants to be a RN in US. She has very little English knowledge therefore she is going to a school for English as Secound Language.

She has Associate Degreen in Nursing in Japan and about 90H of credit can be transferble to US schooling. However, she does not have strong finacial back groudng and her money is very limited. Her goal is to get a RN job here in US.

She is currently F1 status. I called all major hospitals here in our area but none of them would do Visa sponsorship for foregin nurse..... I my self is immigrant and herad it's not easy to get a green cared anymore. I can imagine getting H1B visa is very hard, too unless you have some kind of sponsorship, right?

We are sugesting her to go to Jr.College where offers Nursing program rather than prestigeious 4 year college which cost her double of money, even though she wants to get higher education. She believes it's is beneficial for in a long run to go to 4 year degree rather than 2 year...

What you suggest us to advise her?

Her advisor at ESL told her to pass the exam. Is it true? it's not necessary to go to nursing school to become a RN as long as you pass exam????

All people here posted question seems that it seems easy to obtain a greencard??? Please kindly advise me of your suggestion of education path

and carrier path as RN in state for foreigun student.... I guess unlike Phillipine, Japan does not have a lot agencies who sends out JP nurses to US.... Thank you very much for your kind cooperation.

suzanne4, RN · May 29, 2004

If your freind's English skills are poor, she will be a long way off to getting a green card. Green cards for RNs are actually being fast-tracked. It is fairly easy to get, but her English skills must be comparable to those of a native speaker. Taking just an ESL class will not prepare her in any way. The will have to pass TOEFL, TSE, and TWE, or the IELTS series.

H1-B visas are no longer being offered this year, and probably won't be for nurses for next year. They have the same requirements now as needed for getting a green card. Sponsorship of a nurse for an H1-B visa is quite different than sponsoring someone for a green card.

If you look under the international forum section, you will see several postings at the top of the page with the requirements needed. In order for your froiend to be accepted to a nursing school in the US, she must have satisfactory scores on TOEFL, and you will not learn the type of English needed for that program.

Coko · May 29, 2004

Thank you for you kind advise.

She is taking an ESL program at college where has very precitigous Nursing program. Her entering acutual college is no problem after finishing her ESL.

Either she choose to take 2 year college or 4 year college, she still has to take core claases such as English, History, Political Science, and so foruth....

By the way, how can people obtain Green Card for Nursing easily? Why does it seem to be easier? What is that forum site I need to look into to find out more information about this type of IRS matter? Thought getting green card was very difficult. Does someone have to sponsor her to get a green card? Can she just apply a Green Card if she pass all exam???? Does she has to have BS in order to apply for a green card? After she enteres a college, she can prepare for TOEFL

and enter the nursing program. If she choose for 2 year college, she would be able to get one year practical training visa. If she pass all exam including Nursing exam, can she still apply for a green card????

Sorry to bother you but I did not know that getting green cared for Nurse was "fast-tracked".... and need more information. Thank you very much for your time and advise. //Coko

Coko · May 29, 2004

Suzanne4,

Sorry for my previous post before reading other sites that you have previously posted. Well, my question here is that which is faster or cheaper way for my Japanese host student to apply Nursing job from Japan or getting Nursing education here in US, then become RN???? As I mentioned before, she is ready to graduate from ESL with good grades, however, with her limited finacial resorces, she needs the shortest way to be a RN in US. I know she has a very long way to go because of her English. I think she can pass TOEFL for Nursing school requirement or other cgfns's requirement point. My concern is that if she is able to obtain working visa or green card after she pass all exams she requires.

Since major hospital around here will not sponsor any foreign nurse to obtain a green card,which path she should take? Should she just concentrate getting Nursing degree regardless 2 year or 4 year???? What would you suggest?

Thank you in advance for your reply.

Regards,

Coko

suzanne4, RN · May 30, 2004

First, if she has only taken ESL classes, these are not going to help her with her English exams for TOEFL, TWE, and TSE. Her English skills need to be comparable to those of a native speaker.

She cannot just apply for a job. She has to submit her application to CGFNS and see if her schooling from Japan will meet the requirements for a green card. That is probably the first step to take.....if they will then she can just concentrate on her English classes, if not then she will have to attend nursing school in the US.

Either way, it is not going to be an instant fix. I have no idea where you are writing from, if you tell me the state then perhaps I can give you mre details. But first I would find out if her schooling is even accepted, since she only attended a two year program. If her English skills are poor, she is going to need alot of help to get those up to speed and that doesn't happen over night. There are no "work permits" available, only green cards and NAFTA visas that she doesn't qualify for since she does not hold a Mexican or Canadian passport.

You are looking at several months, perhaps up to five or six, for CGFNS to review her documents, especially since she is already in the US. It will be more difficult for her to obtain them. If they are accepted, then she has to apply to the state BON where you are for licensure. When they approve her credentials she will still need to take the NCLEX exam to actually get her license. Some states can take 4 to 6 months to grant the letter that is needed for permission to even take the exam. Not sure if you are in a state that requires the CGFNS exam, if so, this is only given three times per year and in only six locations in the US. Then two months for those scores.

Visa Screen which is required to get a green card requires that the nurse has passed either CGFNS or NCLEX and the set of English exams. The petition from the hospital can take months, right now California is up to 8 months.

Either way, there is no shortcut to working in the US as nurse. She will still need to get a green card, that doesn't change whether you attend school in the US or abroad. You are definitely looking at minimum of 18 months, especially since she is not ready to take her English exams, and that is only if her credentials from Japan are accepted.

suzanne4, RN · May 30, 2004

Thank you for you kind advise.
She is taking an ESL program at college where has very precitigous Nursing program. Her entering acutual college is no problem after finishing her ESL.
Either she choose to take 2 year college or 4 year college, she still has to take core claases such as English, History, Political Science, and so foruth....
By the way, how can people obtain Green Card for Nursing easily? Why does it seem to be easier? What is that forum site I need to look into to find out more information about this type of IRS matter? Thought getting green card was very difficult. Does someone have to sponsor her to get a green card? Can she just apply a Green Card if she pass all exam???? Does she has to have BS in order to apply for a green card? After she enteres a college, she can prepare for TOEFL
and enter the nursing program. If she choose for 2 year college, she would be able to get one year practical training visa. If she pass all exam including Nursing exam, can she still apply for a green card????
Sorry to bother you but I did not know that getting green cared for Nurse was "fast-tracked".... and need more information. Thank you very much for your time and advise. //Coko

In order for her to work in the US as a Registered Nurse she is going to need a green card. If the hospitals won't sponsor her for one, then they aren't going to sponsor her whether she has a degree from overseas or the US.

RNs are fast-tracked for a green card, providing that they meet all of the requirements. This means that if she has passed NCLEX and her English exams, she can be fast-tracked, not until. The only way that you will find out anything is to submit her documents to CGFNS to see if they are acceptable. No one else can tell you anything, not even where she is going to school. Only CGFNS can. She needs to have better English skills just to begin the college program, not do it later.

Right now, she is still taking English classes, has she even applied for the nursing program? It usually is a separate program, not everyone that applies gets accepted as they have limited spots. These programs also have pre-requisites of certain science classes that must be met before they can be accepted. So, you are looking at her possibly starting Sept/2005.

Then another two years of school, afterwards while she is getting her training, she can be having her green card processed. So nothing is going to be a quick ride to do things legally here.

You were talking IRS before, they are only responsible for taxes, not immigration.

Coko · May 30, 2004

I meant to say INS....

Graduating college affiliated ESL, she will be accepted to that College w/o TOEFL. BTW, We are in Atlanta, GA. According to her school counselor, she must enter that college 1st as undergraduate, then pass TOEFL for their Nursing program requirement point, and other English exam? to apply for their Nursing program. I know she has very long time to go to even thinking about a green card, but I just wanted to know what would be the opportunity for her.... What would be the best path to take. Your input really help and I really appreciate it.

I am not sure if it's better for her to applying from CGFNS as foreign Nurse or taking a path as trained Nurse in US. In Japan, she graduated from two year Nursing College and she worked for a major hospital and small private OBGY hospital. She was also Surgery Nurse. (I do not know the terminology, sorry!) I think she had at least 4 years of RN experience in Japan.

The reason why she came to US was that we thought it would be much better if she studies English here than in Japan. Besides, we did not know anything that she could apply from Japan as foreign Nurse at that time.

Financially, it would be much better for her to apply from Japan as a foregin Nurse while she is working, however, her English learning would be limited..... Her being in US, YES, her English has improved tremendously, but her funds are getting limited. I told her about this site and hopefully, she can post her question as well. I hope you will extend your great support as much as you have extended to me.... Have a great day!

suzanne4, RN · May 31, 2004

Nursing programs do not accept students the same way other programs do. Even though they are in regular colleges or universities they have separate entry requirements. If you have been reading any of the threads here you will see that some have waiting lists of two to three years.

Submit her credentials to CGFNS and see what they say. The amount of work experience makes no difference, it is whether she had the required courses with the number of hours. The smartest thing to do is find out if your nusing classes meet the requirements...................I would do that first. That will give you your best answer. Then go from there.

VJenny · Jul 9, 2004

Might be a late reply, uh? I got to know from some official websites of nursing that there will still be a great demand for nursing till 2012. But before you make a decision to go into nursing, make sure that you will not regret your choice. Good luck!:balloons:

Jenny

I am considering transfer from another major to nursing. Currently I am holding a F1 visa. Some of the nursing school are very
competitive. So as the thread starter mentioned associate degree will be much easier to attend in terms of admission. I searched lots of info about the nursing career in several years, and the results always show that how much shortage will be then.The major reason I intend to transfer from a Ph.D program (not promising placement) to nursing just because of the awareness of the promising job opportunity. Do you guys have any idea regarding the future of nursing jobs, say to year 2008?
How long does it take after you started working?
Any reply will be greatly appreciated.